NEM Group has announced the public chain launch of Symbol, its next-generation blockchain. Boasting enterprise-grade programmability and security, Symbol from NEM brings together developers, projects and enterprises to enable new business models and innovation, while reducing the costs and complexities in existing processes. With the launch comes XYM, the native currency of the Symbol from NEM platform, used for transactions on the network.
Commenting on the launch, David Shaw, CEO of NEM Group, said, “The release of Symbol represents a culmination of over four years of collaborative building and testing by the NEM Core Developers, our global community and various supporting entities and partners. We have taken the learnings from the NEM NIS1 public network, and considered what individuals and businesses are looking for in a blockchain solution. The answer is simplicity; Symbol permits seamless integration with existing systems and processes, with security, customizability and low cost making the platform a suitable fit for a number of industries and use cases, spanning the enterprise, regulated asset and wider blockchain spaces.”
A distinct feature of Symbol from NEM is its hybrid chain architecture, which permits native compatibility with both public and private chain deployments, allowing developers to choose the ideal setup for their particular needs. Enterprise users can establish a permissioned ecosystem on a private chain to store confidential information, while also enabling communication with public chains. This presents a ‘best of both worlds’ solution, offering more flexibility in how businesses store and share data.
Symbol from NEM is built to be interoperable; its Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) easily integrate with existing systems and processes, as well as other blockchains. The platform permits atomic cross-chain swaps, enabling the trading of tokens across different blockchains and eliminating the need for intermediaries. It also introduces mosaics, a feature that permits the creation of specialized assets, going beyond tokens to represent shares of stock, signatures, votes or other currencies. Each mosaic has configurable properties and a unique identifier. Together, these features hold huge potential for new financial services, in particular for the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Security Token Offering (STO) spaces.
Symbol from NEM also builds on the advanced security features of NEM’s first blockchain. NEM NIS1 (V1) was the first blockchain to introduce on-chain multi-signature accounts. Building on this functionality, Symbol from NEM presents the first ever blockchain to bring on-chain, multi-layer, multi-signature accounts. Sometimes referred to as the concept of “delegated financial authority” in enterprises, this feature allows the co-signatory of a multi-signature account to be a multi-signature account with its own set of co-signers. This allows users to simplify the creation of complex signature requirements, which streamlines business processes such as payroll.
Kristy-Leigh Minehan, CTO of NEM Software, commented:
“As a flexible platform, Symbol’s Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) can be seamlessly integrated with existing enterprise systems and processes, as well as other blockchains. Its multi-layer technology stack allows for trustless, peer-to-peer, multi-party asset swaps or trades. The platform has been developed with customizability as a key focus with over 120 different configuration settings, allowing for the customization of both public and private networks. Its feature sets enable the rapid development and deployment of secure solutions.”
Symbol from NEM is set to make a splash in the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) space, with LBCOIN, the world‘s first blockchain-based digital collector coin issued by a Central Bank, committed to NEM platforms. LBCOIN was initially issued on the NEM NIS1 public chain in July 2020, with The Bank of Lithuania issuing 4,000 LBCOIN, equivalent to 24,000 digital tokens and 4,000 physical collector coins. With the launch, LBCOIN will transfer to Symbol chains (private and public), to take advantage of the feature-rich platform.
The NEM project will now have two chains post-launch, with NEM NIS1 continuing to run in parallel with Symbol from NEM. As NEM Group’s focus shifts to driving the mainstream adoption of blockchain through both chains, NEM NIS1 will focus on developers, while Symbol will serve enterprise end-users.